El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com cut shares of El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Separately, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of El Pollo Loco from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

El Pollo Loco Trading Down 0.9 %

El Pollo Loco stock opened at $13.66 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $12.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.95. El Pollo Loco has a 52 week low of $8.11 and a 52 week high of $14.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $424.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 1.50.

El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. El Pollo Loco had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 10.33%. The firm had revenue of $122.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that El Pollo Loco will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at El Pollo Loco

In other El Pollo Loco news, major shareholder Sardar Biglari acquired 62,362 shares of El Pollo Loco stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.47 per share, with a total value of $777,654.14. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 87,362 shares in the company, valued at $1,089,404.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 189,177 shares of company stock valued at $2,483,158. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC increased its stake in El Pollo Loco by 34.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,808 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in El Pollo Loco by 7.5% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 15,606 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $172,000 after acquiring an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in El Pollo Loco in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in El Pollo Loco by 17.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 34,044 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 5,112 shares during the period. Finally, Rodgers Brothers Inc. increased its stake in El Pollo Loco by 2.7% in the first quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 212,725 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.28% of the company’s stock.

About El Pollo Loco

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiary, El Pollo Loco, Inc, develops, franchises, licenses, and operates quick-service restaurants under the El Pollo Loco name. It operates and franchises restaurants located in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Utah, and Louisiana. It also licenses its brand to restaurants in the Philippines.